New emoji coming to iPhone from Apple on World Emoji Day

Among the new pictographs are ‘woman with headscarf’, ‘bearded person’ and ‘breastfeeding’.
Photo credit: Apple

While emoji haven't replaced the written word- yet, the popular pictographs are being celebrated on Tuesday's World Emoji Day, with Apple releasing previews of some new emoji set to drop later this year.

Among the new pictographs are 'woman with headscarf', 'bearded person' and 'breastfeeding'.

You'll be able to express beyond words feeling star stuck, nauseous, or that your head is exploding.

You’ll be able to express beyond words feeling star stuck, nauseous, or that your head is exploding.
Photo credit: Apple

Jeremy Burge, the head of emoji resource Emojipedia and creator of World Emoji Day, told the Guardian he expects the 'smilies' will be the most popular.

'Woman with headscarf' was highly sought after, he said, and a redheaded emoji was the most-requested icon that still doesn't come with iPhones.

"Requests show a redhead emoji dominating requests for future additions. Redhead is now a candidate for 2018, as well as curly hair and a bald headed person", he said.

This is the first year Apple has officially marked World Emoji Day, and the company plan to introduce the new emoji to iOS in the next version of iOS 11, which is due out later this year.

But not everyone is celebrating Apple's new offerings; many on Twitter have suggested the company should spend more time improving the quality and reliability of their hardware.

The icons revolutionized digital communication after being introduced to the iOS keyboard in 2011, and were quickly adopted by most other platforms.

For the third year in a row, the 'face with tears of joy' emoji dominated both Twitter and Facebook as the most-used icon. The same symbol was the Oxford Dictionary's Word of the Year in 2015.

Statistics show people tend to favour the red heart, the heart eyes smiley, and the kissing face smiley across platforms.

Emojipedia tracks requests by popularity for the year, and some of the most-requested emojis include an afro, a bagel and hands making a heart.

A bald person, takeaway coffee and a chef making a kissing face also show up as some of the most-wanted additions in 2017.